I was dismissed from my LPN program today for clinical absences...
One clinical I was sent home because I was 5 minutes late...we are afforded, by school policy, a 10-minute window to be late before we are sent home, but my CI sent me home anyways because she "wanted to set an example" to the other students (she actually told me this)
Then today, I was sent home for wearing the wrong kind of shoes. The sneakers I normally wear had a heel that was literally falling off and the only other pair I had was some white Crocs...I wore them, hoping it would go unnoticed (there are tons of flagrant dress code violations in my clinical group that never get addressed so I didn't think it would be an issue) but had the other shoes with me just in case it was an issue. My instructor saw the Crocs and confronted me about it, and I explained the situation to her and immediately changed shoes (this was within an hour of starting the clinical day, I hadn't even hit the floor yet) but she called the program director and sent me home, which resulting in me absencing out of the program.
My program director actually told me that she would have overridden the first absence if I had approached her about it...I had planned on doing so but she is NEVER in her office and with everything else going on I sort of forgot about it. She says that because I signed the paper acknowledging that absence (which I thought I had no choice in, since I WAS technically absenst since I got sent home) her hands were tied and there was nothing she could do.
My last final is Monday...I have a 4.0 GPA in classroom and have gotten A's on all of my clinical paperwork and good evaluations, but if this goes through I'll have to wait until December and take the entire Mod over...and get zero credit for this Mod, clinical OR classroom (even though I've already taken the A&P final and gotten my final grade!!)
Has anyone been in this situation before?? Is there anything I can do to appeal this?? I'm still in schock right now...I've worked SO incredibly hard and made so many sacrifices, I cannot believe this is happening
Just spoke with my schools executive director...she is allowing me to come on Monday and take my first final, and then meet with her about the appeal. She sounds nice and very reasonable...I'm cautiously (very cautiously) optimistic that maybe this can be resolved...
Thank you SO much for everyone who gave me kind words and advice...if it wasn't for this board and some serious prodding from my friends and family I don't think I would have even considered that I had a shot at fighting this!:redbeathe
I hope this means that you are allowed back into the program...now go and ace that final!
You should become a nursing instructor. You'd fit right in.
Um, that's kind of an unfair dis to all nursing instructors. Not every one is a total hard-nose.
To the OP, I think this whole matter is ridiculous and I hope you are successful in your appeal. I've had to send students home from clinical but never for something as trivial---yes, trivial---as a wardrobe malfunction.
On the other hand, there were instructors at the program at which I taught who penalized a couple of students for absence from clinicals when there was an unexpected ice storm and the clinical site was over an hour and a half away from the campus. Clinicals are important and, IMO, no educational program gives students enough clinical time these days. But I would rather see someone miss a day of clinical than get killed because of an auto accident and a hard-nosed instructor's insistence that students show up no matter what.
In regards to the tardiness issue, yes, in the real world nurses ARE penalized if they're late. I commend the nurse manager who had a tough but equitable policy of not tolerating lateness. However, in the OP's situation, the school had a formal policy permitting a ten-minute window before a student would be considered tardy. The OP, however, should check with his/her classmates to see if others have been similarly penalized for being less than ten minutes late.
It's ridiculous that the instructor decided to "make an example" of the OP, especially if other students have done similar or even worse infractions. Can anyone say, we have control issues here?
And regarding the wardrobe malfunction---in the real world, yes, dress code matters but honestly, I think the "wrong shoes" would be a very minor infraction unless the student's wearing flip flops or something totally ridiculous. I've taken students aside to privately remind them of the dress code policy and I've brought up the subject to clinical groups in pre- and post-conference.
When I worked nights in LTC, we had an emergency with one of our CNAs one shift and had to send her home because of a health issue. I called the CNA who had worked the PM shift but he'd just thrown his scrubs into the wash. That was fine by me. He came to work in a clean T-shirt and jeans and I don't think the care he gave was in any way compromised by his unorthodox care. I realize others might have made a different decision and I do believe it's important for all health care workers to adhere to dress codes---but sometimes you simply have to be flexible.
I think it's asinine to drop a student from a program for such trivial reasons. Putting a patient in potential or actual harm? Cheating? Coming to clinicals while under the influence or hung over? Repeated absences, tardiness, failures in other courses?Absolutely. But coming five minutes late and wearing Crocs? Absolutely not.
Keep us posted---I hope you prevail. Students DO have rights.
:yeahthat:Moogie, can we clone you? If not, how can I bribe you to come and teach at my CC?
:bowingpur
OP, here's hoping there's a good (and a just) outcome to this mess. You have my utmost sympathy and the best wishes of many of the posters here. Keep us informed, okay? :icon_hug:
Why, because instead of offering a pity "hang in there, they were unfair", I offered a look at reality. Breaks rules and there will be consequences. An appeal based on "everyone else broke rules" will hold no weight. As a nurse, you must be responsible for your actions. As a nurse, you must be prepared. As a nurse, you must be organized. The whole shoe thing would have been avoided if the shoes were simply looked at beforehand. How can your shoes be in such bad shape, yet you have no idea until it is time to go to clinical?
I hope they show mercy and let her back in. I also hope she learns from this experience and never lets something like this happen again.
Funny how you take offense to being told you should become a nursing instructor because you'd fit in with them :chuckle. It wasn't meant to be an insult.
Why, because instead of offering a pity "hang in there, they were unfair", I offered a look at reality. Breaks rules and there will be consequences. An appeal based on "everyone else broke rules" will hold no weight. As a nurse, you must be responsible for your actions. As a nurse, you must be prepared. As a nurse, you must be organized. The whole shoe thing would have been avoided if the shoes were simply looked at beforehand. How can your shoes be in such bad shape, yet you have no idea until it is time to go to clinical?
I hope they show mercy and let her back in. I also hope she learns from this experience and never lets something like this happen again.
Yes, as nurses we need to be prepared and responsible. We also need to have empathy and not make pre-judgements based on limited information.
If you had a patient that came in with a disease that had progressed to the point that it was no longer treatable, would you say "How could your body be in such bad shape but you didn't know until it was too late to do anything??"
Not that my shoes are in any way comparable to a human life, but it's something to think about. Maybe that patient knew there was a problem but could not afford to seek treatment. And maybe I knew my shoes were starting to fall apart but I didn't have the money to replace them that week.
I see your point on personal accountability, and believe it or not, I'm a big fan of the concept. I see students in my class every day making excuses: for why they are failing out of a class or why they are chronically 5 minutes, or why they forget that their patients are human beings and talk about them like they aren't even in the room-there are definately people who push the limits to get away with as much as possible, and I know those rules are there to get them out of nursing before they start "pushing the limits" with actual patients. But I'm not one of those people, and my instructors and my program director know it. There is such a thing as using discretion.
I'm not trying to preach here, I just think sometimes we lose sight of the bigger picture and end up throwing the baby out with the bathwater. This is not just about me and my situation-I read so many posts on here about people getting thrown out of school for arbitrary reasons and at some point I think it's time to question the motivations of these institutions. Is it about turning out good nurses or is it about squeezing out as much money from someone as possible? Regardless, we ARE losing good nurses left and right, at a time when we really need them.
Anyways, just my , stepping off my soapbox now and back to studying
I have never been in your situation before and I hope I never will. I start my biology prereqs on Monday so I'm not where you are. But I have been in tough situations before I can truly say prayer really does change things. So my advice whether you have already or not, pray to Jesus, go back and plead your case to your director again, then accept whatever God allows. Remember He knows what is best for us.
We need good nurses, and I'm also feeling your pain with a 4.0 GPA, etc. Shame, shame on them. See your administration/director about this. Setting an example? Would be pointing out the good, not the nonsense. NVR2late
Just spoke with my schools executive director...she is allowing me to come on Monday and take my first final, and then meet with her about the appeal. She sounds nice and very reasonable...I'm cautiously (very cautiously) optimistic that maybe this can be resolved...
Thank you SO much for everyone who gave me kind words and advice...if it wasn't for this board and some serious prodding from my friends and family I don't think I would have even considered that I had a shot at fighting this!:redbeathe
That was so ridiculous of that clinical instructor:rolleyes: It really sounds like she has something personal against you. I would hate to have a nurse like that care for me if I were sick. What happened to caring, compassion, and empathy? Hmph. I cannot stand people like that who go out of their way to make life difficult for others. It's like they don't realize how much people sacrifice to be in nursing school. Imagine she almost got your kicked out with your 4.0 gpa for somethng so ridiculous. Her day will come. Leave people like that to time. I'm so glad that it worked out for you.
On the other hand, there were instructors at the program at which I taught who penalized a couple of students for absence from clinicals when there was an unexpected ice storm and the clinical site was over an hour and a half away from the campus. Clinicals are important and, IMO, no educational program gives students enough clinical time these days. But I would rather see someone miss a day of clinical than get killed because of an auto accident and a hard-nosed instructor's insistence that students show up no matter what.
This is my biggest fear. I have to travel an hour to most clinical sites and where I am tends to get more snow than where school/clinical is but the few times this has happened I have always been too afraid of the reprocussions to call out.
Thats kinda why I wish I could have started school near by dad in Mississippi because ice storms wouldn't be a worry for me. Unfortunately for that whole thing I live in Ohio and its already cold. I can't picture what we have coming for us this winter but I hope to make as little excuses as possible when it comes to weather and show up but you can't always and that's my fear. Gettin hit with ice storms, hail or extreme snow and my husband is MR. Safety. He's the only one who currently knows how to drive and I'd get stuck at home having to call in if he said no way no how.
To the OP: I hope you get your appeal. Good luck. I know shoes can be a non-issue when you have a lot of bills and a little money. I can see why someone can be in such a predicament.
I am not at all surprised about what happened to you. At my school we have very strict policies that are also strictly enforced, to the point that I think it's ridiculous. For example, our scrub pant legs are not allowed to touch the floor at any time and we can't show any ankle skin and must wear socks or stockings that cover our entire lower leg. Our hair must be "well controlled and pulled back completely at all times" and no jewelry is allowed for any reason and nails must not exceed 1/4". At clinicals we must always have our nametag, stethoscope and penlight or we will be sent home and written up. We also have the rule about being more than 10 minutes late you are sent home. Breaking these rules results in being written up and after being written up 3 times, you automatically fail. One girl last year got her 3rd and final write up by having fingernails that were a little over 1/4". The clinical instructor actually got out a ruler and measured them. But yet another girl forgot her nametag two clinical days in a row and no actions were taken. And another girl got lost on the way to a clinical site and was over 45 minutes late and also was not sent home or written up. I, personally, was written up for wearing jeans on a non-patient contact clinical day. We were told to wear our lab coats and street clothes. I wore a nice pair of trouser cut jeans, but they told me jeans are considered "too casual" and are not professional. Go figure. I understand that in the "real world" there will be company policies and we will all be held accountable. However, nursing is my second career and I was working in a professional industry before this and I can tell you I've never seen rules like the ones I see in nursing school. Good luck, OP. I would appeal to anyone and everyone. I'm sorry this happened to you, and unlike some, I can see the unfairness in it. You are a going to make a good nurse, you get excellent grades and are smart. Wearing Crocs and showing up 5 minutes late one time, in the real world, isn't going to make you a bad nurse. Just remember that.
The OP, however, should check with his/her classmates to see if others have been similarly penalized for being less than ten minutes late.
cspink
80 Posts
I hope this means that you are allowed back into the program...now go and ace that final!